Vice President Kamala Harris’ approval rating is below President Biden’s in the battleground state of Georgia, 4.6 percentage points behind Donald Trump and she also receives lower approval ratings among women and non-Black minorities, according to a poll released just hours after Biden withdrew his bid for a second term and endorsed Harris.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Trump is expected to receive 50.5% of the vote, while Harris is expected to receive 45.9%. foundRepublican Harris extended her 3.5 percentage point lead over Biden in the same poll, with women and minorities of color contributing to her slightly worse performance.
The poll was conducted between July 9 and 18, a period when the 81-year-old Biden was facing a flurry of calls from other Democrats to drop out and during which the vice president was seen as the front-runner to succeed Biden.
Among non-black racial minorities such as Asian and Latino, who made up nearly one in 10 respondents, Trump’s lead fell 3.8 percentage points, from an 8.2% lead over Biden to a 12% lead over Harris.
Among women, Harris led by 7.4% to Biden’s 9% lead.
Harris, the first female vice president and the first African-American and South Asian-American vice president, saw slight gains among black voters.
Among men, Trump led Harris by 19.8 percentage points and Biden by 19.3 percentage points.
Among white voters, who made up nearly two-thirds of respondents, Trump held a 44.3% lead over Biden at 43.2%.
The poll has an overall margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, suggesting that changes between subgroups may not be statistically significant and additional polls are needed to confirm.
Harris will face a big test of party support in a virtual nominating vote in early August, scheduled to be held in time for Democratic candidates to vote in Ohio before polls close on Aug. 7. Delegates can resume voting on the floor of the Democratic convention in Chicago from Aug. 19-22.
Experts have suggested Harris could help Democrats win in other battleground states such as Michigan, where anger among Arab and Muslim Americans over Biden’s support for Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip was widely thought to undermine his chances of victory.
